Reverse Reverse?
by PotentiallyHarmful
Summary: The game glitches and Sans has no magic. Flowey wants to play a game. Papyrus smash. The ending is terrible.
1. Chapter 1

Sans has no magic. He's captured by flowey. Papyrus will have NONE OF THIS.

Birds can be heard chirping lazily outside. Sans opens his eyes and stares forward into the TV…

Damn that kid and their RESETS… They did so good this time too. They killed a few monsters in the ruins, but spared Toriel. They fought Papyrus and didn't kill anyone else. Then the souls disappeared and so did the kid.

They must not have liked that ending. So now they reset and are doing it all over again. Sans wonders what run they'll do this time.

But something feels weird this time.

Sans looks down at his hands and doesn't see anything different on him. The house is fine… Papyrus is probably at his station, just like he always is when the resets happ—

"SANS! ARE YOU ACTUALLY AWAKE?" Sans jolts out of his thoughts and looks over to the right where Papyrus is standing with a bowl in his arms, pink frilly apron and a shocked look on his face.

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT BROTHER?" Papyrus says, quieting his voice just a little. Sans snaps out of it and shrugs.

"I'm fine. Slept weird is all." The small skeleton shrugs and looks at Papyrus who gives him a once over.

"I SUPPOSE YOU DID! IT LOOKS LIKE YOU TELEPORTED IN YOUR SLEEP OR SOMETHING! YOU WEREN'T THERE A FEW MINUTES AGO."

"I… huh. Sleep teleporting huh? That's new…" Sans mumbles to himself.

"ARE YOU SICK?"

"Sick?"

Papyrus stares at his brother and actually stops stirring what's in the bowl to put his hand on his hip sassily.

"YOU SEEM ODD AND I CAN'T PUT MY FINGER ON IT!"

On the spot, Sans pretends he's asleep, which he's become good at over the years. If Papyrus thinks he's being odd, then he's gotta make up for it by slipping into what Pap knows is routine.

Papyrus rolls his eyes and sighs loudly.

"YOU ARE UNBELIEVABLE! I WAS TALKING TO YOU!" The tall skeleton goes back into the kitchen to finish cooking, and when Sans sees that, he teleports out of the house, and then several more times away until he's nearly to the exit of the ruins. The snow is crunchy as always and the monsters he saw all seemed normal.

So what was it that was off? Even PAPYRUS knew something was up.

But it was something odd about HIM.

"What are YOU doing here?" Comes a tiny voice behind Sans. Sigh. He's memorized that voice.

"You know, I'm kinda wondering the same thing." Sans turns and faces the little yellow flower who glares at him with confusion.

"No seriously. You aren't supposed to be here. This isn't how things go."

"It's how it's going this time. Deal with it bud."

Flowey is quiet for several moments… until a creepy grin starts to spread on his face.

"Huh! I get it now. This is new!"

"New? That I'm here? So what?" Sans shrugs.

"Well that too! But also…. You've lost a LOT of your magic skeleton man!"

"My…" Sans looks at his left hand… then thrusts it to Flowey. The little yellow flower is surrounded by blue magic…. But no matter how hard Sans tries, he can't pluck the irritating plant out of the ground.

Flowey laughs loudly and slips into the earth, disappearing. Sans stands there in total shock… Something is very wrong.

Something glitched out in the kids game… and now Sans has next to no magic. The only magic he DOES have is what's sustaining him and nothing else.

"Uh oh… This ain't good. And now that damn flower knows… The hell am I gonna do if the kid decides to kill everyone?..." He sighs. This isn't the nice quiet walk he was hoping to take to clear his head.

Sans walks around the forest and says hello to the monsters he passes, pets the canine unit when he comes across them and removes a few presents from Gryfftrot's antlers to lighten the load.

Eventually he makes it back to Snowdin and catches Papyrus walking out of their home.

"SANS! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? YOU FELL ASLEEP AGAIN AND THEN DISAPPEARED!"

"Heh. Yeah. I guess I'm just so good at teleporting that I could do it with my eyes closed."

Another giant sigh from Papyrus.

"WELL STOP FALLING ASLEEP AND MAYBE YOU'LL STOP POOFING RANDOMLY THROUGH TIME AND SPACE! NOW LISTEN HERE, I'M GOING TO MY POST AND YOU'D BETTER GET TO YOURS SO UNDYNE DOESN'T ACTUALLY FIRE YOU THIS TIME!"

"Aw, I just walked all the way back here though."

Sans slumps a little. Pap looks at his brother with only a tiny bit of sympathy.

"THAT IS UNFORTUNATE. BUT YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO WALK BACK. OR AWAKE TELEPORT! AND DON'T YOU DARE FALL ASLEEP AT YOUR POST!" With a nod of finality, Pap walks past Sans.

"Yeah yeah. Be careful bro." Sans can't help it. After hearing he's got very little magic, he's a bit on edge. Papyrus stops and turns half way to Sans.

"YOU TOO."

How odd Sans is acting! Be careful? As if anything could hurt THE GREAT PAPYRUS! Although, Sans feeling the need to say that in itself is unusual. He knows his brother is quite smart and weirdly clairvoyant though… so perhaps today Papyrus should be EXTRA careful!

()

It's several hours later and of course, Sans has fallen asleep at his station. He feels like he has to sleep more now than ever though. Normally he sleeps during all these resets because sleeping increases his max HP. But right now he ACTUALLY needs to sleep to function properly. Man, this reset sucks.

"Asleep on the job again, eh Sans?~" The little yellow flower pops up next to Sans and he's got his creepy sneer on his face. Sans just opens one eye and glares at him. Flowey just giggles.

"Aw don't give me that look! I just thought I'd come check up on you! You know, to see if you'd…. BITTEN THE DUST yet!" Flowey laughs loudly.

"Oh come on, I thought YOU'D appreciate a good joke! Don't be such a… LAZYBONES!"

"Listen ya little sapling, beat it already. I'm not in the mood for your bullshit."

"Golly! Not having magic sure puts you in a sour mood. That's no fun at all.~ You know, Papyrus was just telling me how WEIRD you were acting!"

Sans opens his other eye and sits properly in his wooden chair, instead of having his feet up on the counter of his post.

"Ooohhh, you're scary when you're mad. But I guess I already knew that.~ Listen, I know a GREAT way to get your magic back!"

"Piss. OFF."

"Just hear me out! The best way to get your magic back is…"

The ground shakes and Sans isn't quick enough to move away when giant vines break through the ground and wrap around him. The vines and roots rise up from under trees and under Sans' post, breaking it into many pieces. One of his shoes fly off when he kicks and squirms in an attempt at escape.

"Well, to kill you of course! If you don't like not having magic I can kill you right here and now! The kid will come through and see that the game is different! And they'll reset! OOORR… I can have a little fun."

"You—" Sans struggles hard for a while, but eventually sighs and gives up seeing that he's making literally zero progress.

"I'm not really digging this game, buddy. How about you put me down and leave me the hell a—AAH!"

Flowey squeezes Sans a bit and gets rid of a chunk of his stocked up sleeping HP. Sans looks at Flowey with wide eyes.

"What… are you doing?" He asks with growing worry.

"Having fun! Why don't we pay a visit to your brother hm?"


	2. Chapter 2

Sans has no magic. He's captured by flowey. Papyrus will have NONE OF THIS.

Papyrus stands in front of a puzzle he plans on making electric. A little maze for the human. He's not sure how many watts it takes to KILL a human, but he hopes that the zap will be enough to stop them from moving. The wiring isn't set up yet though so it's just a blank walkway. How dull.

This morning was very unusual. His older brother Sans is acting strange and he can't quite pinpoint what exactly it is that made Sans feel… off. Sleeping on the couch…. That's normal enough he guesses. Falling asleep when he's talking? Also normal. He didn't make any puns! That must be it. His brother not making a ridiculous pun to irritate him must be the cause. Curse you Sans, for making his day feel off because you didn't make a pun!

Inner sigh.

But still. It was something else.

"Papyrus!~" The cheery yellow flowers voice comes. The tall skeleton turns to face him and smiles widely. Well, wider.

"FLOWEY! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU ALL DAY! ARE YOU WELL?"

"Oh yes I'm very well!"

"THAT'S GREAT! I NOTICED THAT YOU'VE BEEN A BIT DOWN LATELY. SO I'M GLAD THAT YOU'VE CHEERED UP!"

"Yeah, I actually found a new plaything!"

"PLAYTHING? DO TELL FRIEND!"

Flowey's face slowly deteriorates into a grin. It's clear he's trying his best to hold back, but he's far too excited to see the reaction he'll get.

"Well, I suppose it's also a present! For you! Would you like to see it?"

"OH MY A PRESENT FOR ME? YOU ARE TOO KIND FLOWEY! SHOULD I REALLY ACCEPT?"

"Heehee~ Please do!"

"THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HUMBLY ACCEPT YOUR GIFT!"

Papyrus stands up tall and folds his arms, imagining that his scarf is flowing behind him like a cape.

"I think you'll like it." Flowey's voice lowers and becomes much more sinister than Papyrus is used to. Roots and vines break out of the cold frozen ground and form a cage around the skeleton. Pap is confused and a bit startled. He grabs onto the bars made of roots and stares down at the flower.

"I'M NOT ENTIRELY SURE I UNDERSTAND FLOWEY, WHAT IS THIS?"

"Your surprise gift! TADA!"

Now Flowey slowly lifts up out of the ground, many roots of all sizes and shapes and colors. His face becomes a terrifying grin of pure malice, and lifts up what appears to be an arm. Inside the coiled arm is…

"SANS? WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?"

Sans dangles there, clearly having given up. At least on struggling. Yet once he sees Papyrus in a cage, he glares at the golden flower whose face slowly approaches him.

"Flowey, you leave my brother out of this…" He says coldly. Flowey just giggles. Papyrus is NOT used to such a dark tone coming from his brother. Is.. Is something ACTUALLY wrong with this? Is Flowey…

"Well that is simply NO FUN! Well then Papyrus, let me spell it out for you, you fool! Sans here is my hostage!~ And while I torture him a bit, I thought I'd have you watch! Heeheeheehee~!"

The flower wiggles around excitedly and Papyrus just stands there in shock. He looks up at his brother and see that Sans is glaring with all his might.

"FLOWEY… I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT… WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? I DO NOT LIKE THIS PRESENT! PLEASE PUT MY BROTHER DOWN!"

Flowey just looks down at the caged skeleton and his grin gets wider. It's begun.

"I don't think I will Papyrus. You see, your precious brother's magic is gone! Isn't that just delightful?!" Papyrus' eyes go wide. THAT'S what's wrong!

"HOW CAN HE BE OUT OF MAGIC?! MY BROTHER HAS… AMAZING MAGIC!"

"Usually anyway. But not this time! And I can't WAIT to make you both SUFFER!~"

"WHY?! WHAT DID WE DO? I'M SORRY FLOWEY, FOR ANYTHING WE DID, I'M SO SORRY! PLEASE STOP THIS! WE CAN TALK THIS OUT!"

"Kyehehehe!~ You don't understand. But that's the best part. Because now I get to see the new raw emotions!"

With that, A vine pulls Sans's arm out. Sans struggles and bends his arm, pulling and pushing to try and get free. The vine tightens and Sans' eyes start to go wide. This flower is…

"Pap, don't look bro, just look away alright?" He sounds a little more panicked than he'd like to, but it just came out…

Flowey pulls on Sans' arm hard and twists the vine several times, ripping and breaking Sans arm in many places.

This is a pain that Sans cannot describe. In past games, the human has really only ever cut Sans' chest open, so the skeleton has gotten used to that pain. But he's never really gotten hurt anywhere else. Not like this.

He screams and writhes in agony, not noticing that a huge chunk of his HP disappeared.

Papyrus screams in fear, watching his brother slowly be torn apart and broken by someone he thought was his friend. He pulls and pushes the vine bars violently, but they don't even budge.

"FLOWEY STOP WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! PLEASE STOP, YOU'RE GOING TO KILL HIM!" Part of Papyrus wonders why Sans hasn't already turned to dust with his 1 HP…. And where did that chunk of HP come from that he just lost? What is GOING ON?

"HAHAHAHA! Stop? KILL HIM? No no no no no not quite yet! I'm taking my time with this! Ah~ Hearing his pained cries fills me with glee!"

The previous vine drops the pieces of Sans' arms, the bones dropping out of his hoody sleeve and then turning into dust.

"And after I'm done with him, I'll crunch the REST of him into dust too! And finally we can both watch his soul disappear into nothingness! What do you say Papyrus, doesn't that sound FUN?"

"NO! THIS IS NOT FUN! PLEASE FLOWEY I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS! PLEASE PLEASE STOP THIS!"

Flowey cackles and wraps another vine around one of Sans' legs and begins to twist slowly. Sans struggles hard while Flowey tightens his grip.

"PLEASE LET MY BROTHER GO!" Papyrus begs loudly.

Once Sans' leg snaps into several pieces and his tortured scream echoes through the forest, something in Papyrus clicks into place. If he doesn't do something RIGHT NOW, his brother is going to be murdered right in front of him.

Papyrus takes a small leap away from the bars in front of him and his magic creates bones that swirl. They spin violently and tear the vines and roots apart. Once free, he immediately sends huge bones at Flowey, most of them hitting his trunk.

It all happens in the blink of an eye though so Flowey is actually caught off guard. He drops Sans and looks down at his wounds.

Papyrus dashes forward and catches his brother before he hits the ground. Angry roots zip towards the skeleton brothers.

"How DARE you!" Flowey shouts. More bones, both white and blue rocket forward to divert the roots path.

"SANS, SANS SAY SOMETHING TO ME PLEASE!"

"O-ow." Good enough he guesses, for now anyway. A new heat in his eye startles Papyrus, but he ignores it. He has to get Sans away from Flowey.

"I didn't think you had it in you Papyrus! Actually fighting me?!"

"YOU WILL /NOT/ HURT MY BROTHER ANYMORE!"

"Aww but aren't we friends?!" Flowey laughs loudly, sending more roots at him. Papyrus jumps around and dodges, still holding his brother in his arms. Sans is honestly a little surprised at how strong his bro is. He stands right up to Papyrus' shoulder so he's not THAT short. He guesses he's not really too heavy either though, being a skeleton and all. But still!

"MY FRIENDS WOULD NEVER HURT MY BROTHER! YOU… YOU WERE GOING TO KILL HIM!"

"You're right I was! I'm really just doing him a favor! Now give him back so I can crush him to dust!"

The heat in Papyrus' eye gets hotter the angrier he gets. Finally he stops dodging and stands still and raises his left arm. His hand is glowing a very bright orange. It freaks him out a little… but he knows it's his own magic. So he decides to use it.

Out of thin air, the biggest bone either skeleton brother has ever seen floats in front of them covered in an orange layer of magic. Flowey stops to stare, rather impressed. Before he can even blink though, the bone shifts and crashes on top of him. The earth shakes violently enough to knock Pap off his feet. He holds onto Sans tightly until everything stops. The two open their eyes and look over at what was once Flowey. It's just a giant heap of plant life now. It doesn't move and neither can sense any magic coming from it…

"Wow bro… Uh… Thanks. For savin' me." Sans finally says. Papyrus looks down at his brother, orange eye fading away.

"OH SANS I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T ACT SOONER…I THOUGHT…"

"It's okay Pap. I know you wanna see the good in people. I didn't think he'd do it either… Guess we were both surprised."

"DOES IT HURT?" Papyrus glances down more at the one loose hoody arm sleeve and the other loose short leg. Sans looks down at them too. He wants to say "no" but he thinks even Papyrus could see through that lie…

"Yeah." Papyrus looks at his brother in great pity and hugs him tightly.

"YOUR MAGIC… WHAT HAPPENED? WHY DON'T YOU HAVE IT ANYMORE?"

"It's sort of a long story I guess… Either way, I don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to defending myself now."

"YOU ARE UNBELIEVABLE."

"You're gonna have to gimmie a hand on some things."

"I AM DISOWNING YOU SANS."

"Aw come on bro, I'm not hitting your funny bone at all?"

Papyrus is almost impressed that Sans can seriously joke at a time like this… But he supposes it's good if it's this way.

Behind him, Papyrus can hear small feet coming towards them. He looks quickly at what he can only describe as…. A monster he's never seen before?

"SANS, WHO IS THAT?"

"Huh?" Sans peeks around Papyrus' arm.

"Oh. Hey kid, mind doin' us all a favor and resetting?"

"RESETTING?"

The child stares at Sans with wide eyes. They knew SOMETHING was wrong when Flowey didn't bother them in the ruins like he normally does. But he was actually here the whole time?

"Don't worry about it Pap. So how about that Reset kid?"

They stare at him in confusion… "What happened?"

"Flowey broke the cycle. Not that it matters since everything will just reset for eternity, but I'd prefer it if you'd do me this one solid. Just this once kid?"

"SANS DO YOU KNOW THIS… PEEEEERRRRRRSSSON?" Papyrus says unsure. The kid sorta just stares at Sans and Papyrus…. And then brings up a menu. Sans slumps with a grateful sigh and leans his head on Papyrus' chest.

"It's all good Pap. Everything will go back to normal in a second. You won't even remember how cool you were just now. Damn shame."

"I DON'T UNDERST—"

The world warps around the human and time-space is ripped apart… A reset right at the beginning of the kids game is really rare. Luckily Sans got the chill version of the kid. He just hopes they get the chill kid again. Less work for him to do.

Everything goes to black… and then Sans opens his eyes. Both legs, both arms… and his magic back.

Right where it belongs.


End file.
